python / python/mypy

`Enum` created via functional API should be iterable

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bug topic-enum
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug Report

The Python docs website document enum items as iterables:

>>> Animal = Enum('Animal', 'ANT BEE CAT DOG')
>>> Animal
<enum 'Animal'>
>>> Animal.ANT
<Animal.ANT: 1>
>>> list(Animal)
[<Animal.ANT: 1>, <Animal.BEE: 2>, <Animal.CAT: 3>, <Animal.DOG: 4>]

https://docs.python.org/3/howto/enum.html#functional-api

This definition is also used in typeshed: https://github.com/python/typeshed/blob/a2095002e446bd0e20f8a469a14e271cd6cc6ad9/stdlib/enum.pyi#L105.

However, mypy fails to recognise this characteristic when using the functional API.

To Reproduce

# Gist URL: https://gist.github.com/mypy-play/d41bcc40b2df9dbfb6f5a0cff7c18681
# Playground URL: https://mypy-play.net/?mypy=latest&python=3.12&gist=d41bcc40b2df9dbfb6f5a0cff7c18681
from enum import Enum

(LATEST,) = Enum("v", "LATEST")

DOWNLOADS = {
    "file1.txt": LATEST,
    "file2.html": 7,
    "file3.css": 3,
    "file4.txt": 5,
    "file5.txt": LATEST,
}

def download_all() -> None:
    for file, version in DOWNLOADS.items():
        if version is LATEST:
            url = f"http://latest.example.url/files/{file}"
        else:
            url = f"http://example.url/files/version/{version}/{file}"
        _download(url)

def _download(url: str) -> None:
    print(f"... pretend to be downloading {url} ...")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    download_all()

Note that I am using Enum in this example because it is much nicer to work with than LATEST = object(), it has a very good __repr__ and if at any point I need to add more special values, I can do that easily. Overall Enum's functional API is an all-rounder for defining constants.

Expected Behavior

Mypy should find no error when checking the example.

Indeed no runtime error can be found, and the program runs as expected:

$ python3.11 main.py
... pretend to be downloading http://latest.example.url/files/file1.txt ...
... pretend to be downloading http://example.url/files/version/7/file2.html ...
... pretend to be downloading http://example.url/files/version/3/file3.css ...
... pretend to be downloading http://example.url/files/version/5/file4.txt ...
... pretend to be downloading http://latest.example.url/files/file5.txt ...

Actual Behavior

main.py:3: error: "Enum" object is not iterable  [misc]
main.py:6: error: Cannot determine type of "LATEST"  [has-type]
main.py:10: error: Cannot determine type of "LATEST"  [has-type]
main.py:15: error: Cannot determine type of "LATEST"  [has-type]
Found 4 errors in 1 file (checked 1 source file)

Your Environment

  • Mypy version used: 1.8.0
  • Mypy command-line flags: None (this is how I run pipx run --python python3.11 'mypy==1.8.0' main.py)
  • Mypy configuration options from mypy.ini (and other config files): None
  • Python version used: Python 3.11.6 (main, Oct 23 2023, 22:47:21) [GCC 9.4.0]

A related problem (but not identical use case) has been previously closed in the tracker #8009.
Please note, however, that the explanations (^1, ^2) for closing that other issue do not apply to this use case:

In summary, the other issue described a situation where an Enum was constantly re-defined as a class attribute inside of class' __init__ function. The report was dismissed because the constant re-definition of the Enum would cause subtle bugs.

In this use case however, the Enum is only defined once during the evaluation of the module by the import machinery. It is never re-evaluated and the Enum "class" itself is not assigned as a member of another object.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by running mypy on the main.py reproduction and confirming the functional Enum assignment produces the reported errors. Trace how the functional Enum API is inferred, then add coverage for iteration and the LATEST member; done means the reproduction type-checks without errors while preserving the documented runtime behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
devtools
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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